Calling down the Lightning
by JA Baker
Summary: General Zod thought he had won. He thought he could let his guard down. He was wrong...


Title: Calling down the Lightning  
Author: JA Baker  
Rating: PG-13 (for character death)  
Pairings: None  
Disclaimer: I'm not sure if anyone knows just who owns Superman/Smallville these days, but it's not me. Everything else is owned DC comics  
Summary: General Zod thought he had one. He thought he could let his guard down. He was wrong...  
Dedications: Anyone who leaves a nice review  
Spoilers: End of season 5  
Authers Note: an idea I've been playing with for a long time, but never got round to writing down. For best effect, listen to something like _Hardrock Hallelujah!_ by Lordi while reading...

**Calling down the Lightning**

General Zod looked out through his hosts eyes at the devastation his loyal servant had caused in his name and smiled. This world was primitive, but its inhabitants had amazing potential, potential that was now his to harness. It wouldn't take much; the easiest way would be to lead them out of the chaos, be seen as a saviour rather than a conqueror. While not as much fun as crushing their spirit, it would be less problematic in the long run.

Walking along the debris strewn streets, he looked at the faces of the natives, these humans that Jor-El had gone to such lenghs to protect, even to the point of sending his infant son to them. He shifted through the information the Brain-IAC unit had colected from the forturs Jor-El had constructed far to the north, and found the file he was looking for.

"_They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way._" The words of his long-dead nemesis brought a fresh smile to Zod's face, "_For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son._"

Zod flung his head back and laughed: Joe-El had been the one thing that had stopped him in his conquest of Krypton, and now his son and heir was imprisoned in the same hell that had held Zod for too long. He would make sure that Jor-El's wraith knew just how badly he'd failed before he had his fortress destroyed. But now he felt the need to impose his will upon the humans around him. He looked round until he saw a young boy cowering in a shop doorway. Walking over to the teenager, he picked him up by the throat and held him up at arms length.

"Swear your loyalty to me, and you will live." The Kryptonian warlord dropped the boy to the ground, "Kneel, kneel before Zod!"

The child looked up at Zod, his eyes wide with terror, "Sh...Sh...Sh..."

"What a worthless specimen you are!" Zod bellowed, raising one fist ready to strike, "The new world I will create will have no place for the likes of you!"

The youth closed his eyes as the fist started to descend with the inevitability of a glacier, "_Shazam!_"

The explosion was heard clear across the city, shattering windows and knocking people to the ground. A titanic bolt of lightning illuminated the sky, casting long shadows over much of Kansas. The populace, already shaken by the calamity that had befallen them, looked up in terror to see what happened next. Many feared the apocalypse, most just wanted the chaos to end.

Steam rose from the half melted road at the point where the lightning had hit, and Zod coughed as he rolled over onto his back: the lightning bolt had been more powerful than anything natural, and his host's body had barely survived.

"What...?" He looked up; a tall man dressed in red with a golden lightning bolt on his chest stood before him. Of the young boy, there was no sign, "Who are you?"

"_**SHAZAM!**_" The man cried out, summoning a second lightning bolt from the sky.

Zod watched it descend, the stranger leaping out of the way as it zeroed in on the prone Kryptonian. He just had time to scream with rage before it struck.

The man who had once been Billy Batson, and would soon become known as Captain Marvel, looked out across the ruined city: there was much to do, but he instinctively knew where to start. If a Kryptonian had caused the problem, then the Wisdom of **S**olomon said that a Kryptonian could help fix it, and he knew just where to find one.

Flexing his legs, the World's Mightiest Mortal took to the air, heading north.

**The End**


End file.
